A very strong commitment

AccessUVA was created in 2004, after the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill introduced the “Carolina Covenant,” the first financial aid program at a public school that promised to meet all student financial need. Though Access UVA is the new umbrella name for all of UVA’s financial aid programs, here’s what is new: AccessUVA […]

UVA By the numbers

In-state cost (including tuition, room and board, travel and expenses): $17,725 Out-of-state cost (not including travel): $35,605 Percentage of students on Pell grants: 7.9 Percentage who are “low-income”: 5.5 Percentage who apply for financial aid: 25 Percentage of undergraduates who apply for financial aid: 45 Funds given in need-based aid 2006-07: $33.5 million Funds given […]

Downtown hotel design is back

For the four members of Charlottesville’s Board of Architectural Review (BAR) (www.charlottesville.org) that were around in 2004, the night of February 20 offered a moment of déjà vu. The application for a nine-storey, 86,000-square-foot, 100-room hotel was the same exact submittal the BAR approved three years ago for the site of the former Central Fidelity […]

Bill changes definition of blight

The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the rights of American citizens by placing a number of restraints on the government. “Individual rights are not meant to make the government’s job easier,” says Albemarle Delegate Rob Bell. “They’re meant to make it harder.” One restriction the Bill of Rights sought to impose was […]

City wants more from Biscuit Run

The City has finalized its list of transportation proffer priorities in the Biscuit Run development south of Charlottesville in Albemarle County: City Council (www.charlottesville.org) decided at their February 5 meeting to request improvements for Old Lynchburg Road, synchronized lights in the city and money toward a Fontaine connector. Those recommendations have been forwarded to the […]

Everybody iPod

It’s a common sight at UVA—a large lecture class dismisses, a flood of students pours out a set of double doors and they all plug in, dialing cell phones or popping those telltale white

Bobby Seale: “They tell me I made history”

“I’m an improviser,” announced Bobby Seale (www.bobbyseale.com), once Black Panther Party (BPP) (www.bp.org) chairman, during his February 22 address to a packed Harris-Small Auditorium. And for an hour and a half, he stuck to form, delivering a rambling but illuminating recital of the group’s beginnings. Invited to speak as part of Black History Month, Seale—sartorially […]

Lighting the proper way

As an update to a story last week (“County tackles research park’s ‘awful’ lighting”), the County Planning Commission approved a lighting waiver for additions to UVA Foundation’s (www.uvafoundation.com) North Fork Research Park off Route 29N. The commission denied a similar request in November because the lights didn’t meet the definition of full-cut off, meaning some […]

They love him just the way he is

With a key-pounding “Root Beer Rag” dedicated to Virginian pianist Bruce Hornsby, a rendition of AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” fronted by a roadie named Chainsaw, and even a dirty joke or two, on February 23 the aging Piano Man showed the John Paul Jones crowd that he can still kick in on a Friday night. […]